Yesterday (Dec. 7), the 2017 Grammy nominees were announced and while the nominees for Best Metal Performance are all solid, the one glaring omission was Metallica, who were instead nominated for Best Rock Song for "Hardwired," one of the heaviest songs in their career. We were fortunate enough to have Michael Wilton and Eddie Jackson of Queensryche drop by our studio yesterday for an upcoming episode of the Loudwire Podcast, and they discussed this year's rock and metal nominees.

Before sitting down, Wilton and Jackson were not even aware of the nominees, so we got their fresh take on Best Metal Performance, Best Rock Song, Best Rock Album and Best Rock Performance. As it was pointed out, both were perplexed by Metallica's exclusion from the metal side, which prompted Wilton to ask if it was a misprint. He then acknowledged that this confusion is nothing new and that rock and metal have been historically misrepresented by the Grammys.

This then prompted Jackson to ask what defines rock and metal and how the two are distinguished from one another. This, of course, is a question that we all wonder and is one of those intangible aspects of music that is purely instinctive rather than logically and concretely explained. The bassist then examined the other nominees listed alongside Metallica (David Bowie, Highly Suspect, Radiohead and Twenty One Pilots), agreeing that the thrash vets just plain don't fit.

Wilton was slightly more critical toward the end as he wondered if this is a mockery or if the organization even cares?

Watch the video above to see what else these metal legends had to say about this year's rock and metal Grammy nominees!